‘The King’s Speech’ PG-13 version draws curses

Colin Firth, as King George VI, and Geoffrey Rush, as his speech therapist, appear in The King's Speech. (The Weinstein Co.)

A day after the uplifting “The King’s Speech” triumphed at the Oscars, there’s controversy over a new PG-13 version that will be completely replacing the R-rated version that won Best Picture.

The edited version, approved by the MPAA last week, apparently mutes the sound in the pivotal scene where Colin Firth, as the stuttering King George VI, lets out his frustrations at the urging of his speech therapist with rapid-fire cursing — 15 f-bombs with a few other epithets mixed in.

The distributor, the Weinstein Co., had protested the R rating, but was unable to get it changed in the United States. The British Board of Film Classification however, acceded to the pleas of director Tom Hooper and reduced the rating from a 15 to a 12A, allowing 12-year-olds to see it and younger children if accompanied by an adult.

The R rating didn’t bother the audiences that mostly saw it at specialty theaters; it’s grossed $115 million so far. However, it doesn’t work as well as PG-13 for the mainstream audiences in multiplexes that turn movies into huge hits. So Weinstein is pulling the old version and replacing it in a forthcoming major release.
Firth told the Hollywood Reporter he didn’t agree with the decision. “I think the film has its integrity as it stands,” he said at the ceremony.

Screenwriter David Seidler told USA Today he was OK with removing the swear words, though he thought it was funny since ads for “The Fockers” are all over TV and radio. And the producers argue that the recut version will encourage families to see it together.

As of today, the R version is still showing at my local independent theater — but if you want to see that one, better act fast.

Whether you can stomach curse words or not, one thing cannot be denied: Censoring this movie will not make it better. It will absolutely make it worse. The profanity being removed is a pivotal part of a pivotal scene in the film, one of the many great moments in Oscar winning director Tom Hooper’s work…. Anyone who buys a ticket for the censored version of King’s Speech is sending them a loud and clear message, and that message is this: I don’t care if you make good movies as long as they receive the right rating.